Humiliation
by silver thorns
Summary: for those who liked grey mornings, here's another one! enjoy, and review!


this is brillo! and funny! i hope you like! and sorry, no adray killing, but bits of adray hurting! and more sophia vs maria! enjoy!

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Nel grinned. "Aww, come on, Albel. You'd look really cute in it!"

"No, maggot. I refused to be forced into that…that…_thing_!"

She pouted. "_Please?_ Just for me?"

"No, scum, and that's final!"

Nel sniffled and glared at the growling warrior. "Fine then."

Albel sighed and watched her walk off. There was no way, none at all, that would get him to put on that hideous unidentified object. Not even if Nel promised to dress up in that _really_ revealing belly dancer's outfit with the tassels and the…

"Hush! Bad thoughts. **_Bad_**, bad naughty thoughts. Very naughty. Bad Albel." (His little shoulder angel appeared in a poof of light, in the form of Woltar. Albel grimaced when he saw that the mini Woltar had decided to go all the way, complete with toga, wings and halo.)

"Ah, what do you know?" (In another poof, this time of red, a mini Albel appeared, dressed in a devil's costume. The pointy tail wagged as he shook his tiny trident menacingly at angel-Woltar.)

Albel rubbed his head, and mini Albel followed suit. (I would have said devil, but, honestly, what's the difference?) He had had _far_ too much to drink. Either that, or not enough.

But any way. No was his answer, and no it would stay.

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Nel crept into the bedroom, an evil grin on her face that would have made even the captain of the Black Brigade proud, had said captain been awake. As it was, he wasn't, which was actually quite fortunate. Laughing evilly – inside her head – she produced a bundle of furry clothes and got to work.

Once she had finished, she admired her handiwork, thinking what a pity she wouldn't be there to see his initial reaction.

Turning, she completed the final stage of her deviously evil plan and slipped out of the room, poor Albel completely unawares.

Once she reached her bedroom, an angel (Clair) poofed into existence onto her shoulder.

"This is bad, Nel. Funny, yes. Cute, even. But very bad all the same. You shouldn't do this."

Nel shrugged, nearly knocking mini Clair off in the process. It really was fortunate she had wings.

There was a red poof, and Adray appeared. Nel paled. The elder Lasbard was wearing a skin-tight red leather devil costume, complete with pointy tale and tiny horns. It was not a pleasant sight. The redhead predicted many a nightmare would follow.

Devil Adray grinned and poked his trident at the angel Clair. "I personally think it's great." Poke poke. "Ingenious." Poke poke. "I mean, he hasn't been paying that much attention to her lately." Poke. Poke prod poke. Poke prod wiggle.

Poke prod wiggle wiggle jab jiggle prod — "WILL YOU STOP THAT!" 'Angelic' Clair snatched away the trident and snapped it in half. Ignoring the pained cries of the previous owner, she tossed the remains over her shoulder, where they promptly burst into flame. Adray wailed and jumped off Nel's shoulder, attempting suicide, but, fortunately for him, (or _unfortunately_ for everyone else) disappearing in a puff of red smoke before he could reach the ground.

With an 'hmph', the Clair angel disappeared too, leaving Nel all alone in her room.

Well, _that_ was interesting…

"ZELPHER! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

The object of the roars of outrage grinned smugly. Everything had gone perfectly. So perfectly it was almost scary. She waited in the courtyards behind the throne room, humming quietly to herself. She could hear shouting, storming, growling, smashing, and crashing, before the door behind her opened with such force that the poor thing splintered, with five claw marks embedded into the wood.

Albel reached out to grab her from behind, but the spy ducked just in time. She let him grab the end of her scarf, though, allowing herself to be pulled up. She grinned brightly when she came face to face with him. It was all she could do not to fall onto her knees wailing; "Please, spare me! I'm too young to be impaled!"

Albel was furious. That morning, he had woken up to find himself dressed in a wolf's outfit, and his clothes missing. All that had been left was a few strands of red hair, and a little note saying '_catch me if you can'_. He wasn't happy.

Nel, however, thought it suited him quite nicely. The head partially covered Albel's two-toned hair, its artificial eyes two strange stones that changed colours depending on the light. The ears were delicately tufted, and slightly flattened against the head, adding to Albel's aura of menace. The suit covered the whole body, the fur a pale grey, white around the chest, with a thick black brush-like tail. She liked it a lot. It seemed, though, that she was alone in that opinion.

"What's wrong, Albel?" she asked innocently. "I thought you would've liked it. It sits you so much."

The warrior growled, and pulled her closer, his grip on her scarf tightening. She shivered slightly when she saw how wildly his crimson eyes burned. "Is that so…" suddenly the captain grinned dangerously, and leaned closer. "Alright then, let's play a game. _Hunt_."

Nel paled. Suddenly her prank didn't seem like such a good idea. In a trembling whisper she hoped sounded braver than she felt, she asked, "How do we play?"

He released her scarf, and tilted his head forwards, hiding his eyes. When he didn't answer, she pressed on, despite the warning alarm that was screaming at the top of its lungs. "Well?"

"Run."

Nel ran. Her heart pounding, she tore through the corridors, not bothering to look behind her. She knew he was following her, she knew. Even though there weren't any other footsteps other than her own, she knew.

And it had all been going so well…

Racing round the corner, she skidded to a halt at the nearest door. Desperately she pounded against it, but it wouldn't open. It was locked. Sobbing slightly from pure terror, she carried on, slamming into the one opposite. It swung open, and she fell onto the floor. Scrambling, the Crimson Blade lept up and lamed the door shut, sobbing tears of relief. Crawling, she finally managed to collapse onto the bed on the other side of the room.

Safe.

Nel closed her eyes and lay there, listening to her heart pounding and her blood rushing through her veins, spurred on by fear and excitement. Eventually her breathing slowed, and he heart slowed enough for her to be able to hear everything else.

There was a click, and she froze.

_Oh no. Please no…_ She had forgotten to lock the door.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly looked up, and saw Albel leaning casually against the wall, tossing a small key into the air before catching it. he saw her, and grinned.

"You know what they say, Zelpher."

He moved towards her, and she scrambled off the bed, backing slowly away from him.

"Run, run, as fast as you can…"

She felt the wall press against her back. _No, no, no…_

"…It won't do you any good…"

He had cornered her. There was no way out. This was it. There was no one to save her. She closed her eyes as she felt his warm breath against her cheek. His lips brushed lightly against her ear.

"…'Cause I've caught you, foolish woman."

His claw circled her wrists, pinning them above her head. The twin set of eyes, gold and ruby, glittered briefly in the candlelight, before…

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Nel yawned and stretched luxuriantly. What a weird dream. Dressing Albel the Wicked up in a wolf costume, running for her life, and then…

But she knew it was just a dream. She knew she would never have plucked up the courage to do it in real life. Not unless she had been under the influence of a potion…

Just then, she heard something that made her freeze. There it was again. Was she still dreaming?

"Nel…"

There was no mistaking it this time. The Aquarian felt a cold, metal arm slip gently round her waist, pulling her down until she was level with a crimson gaze. A human hand touched her face lightly, before pressing lightly against her back, pulling her closer to a strong chest. A heart beat gently, soothing her with its steady rhythm. She closed her eyes…

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Some ways away, Cliff whistled happily and tossed an empty glass vial into the air, catching it after it spun twice. He grinned at Mirage, his partner in crime, and winked. "Looks like ol' Gossam finally did it."

Mirage shook her head disapprovingly, but was unable to keep the small smile of affection off her face. "I still think this is a bad idea. Albel could have killed her. You saw how angry he was."

"Key word, Mirage, m'dear, keyword. _Could have_. He could have done a lot of things, but from the sounds of it, he didn't. So, nothing to worry about."

She shrugged. "Whatever…wait, how did you get them to take the potion?"

Cliff flushed and looked at the floor. "Uhh…"

The blonde woman narrowed her yes. "Yes…?"

He looked up at her sheepishly. "I er…well…I kinda accidentally mixed them up…so…"

Mirage's eyes widened. "You mean, _everyone_ got it! Cliff, that is the most idiotic thing you've done yet! First the asteroid, then the whole Luther thing…really, it can't get any worse. You are just so –"

What Cliff was, exactly, we'll never know. You see, at that point, the potion kicked in, and the words were lost in a very passionate kiss. We won't go into any more detail about what happened next. Just because.

And on the other side of the castle, Fayt was running around, screaming 'help me, help me, there are two girls trying to kill me' whilst Sophia and Maria chased him about waving potentially dangerouspointy objectsand trying to grab Fayt and kill each other at the same time.

As for Gossam, he was putting out the fires in his hair after a rather nasty explosion, plotting, planning, and being generally insane, like all inventors should be.

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naughty naughty nellie, albel, cliff and mirage...so fun! anywho, review! bye! 


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